Dragon Ball Daima Fumbled The Fusion Bag

Dragon Ball Daima is over, having released its twentieth and final anime episode. Since Toei Animation hasn’t revealed whether this Akira Toriyama-fueled adventure will return for a second season, the best thing to do now for anime fans is to do an autopsy on the Dragon Ball Z sequel. The series might have given anime fans quite a few bits of “fan service” by introducing Super Saiyan 4 to the Z-Fighter universe while finally giving Vegeta his Super Saiyan 3 transformation, the lack of a big fusion moment is still perplexing fans. Introducing an amazing new element thanks to the Demon Realm, Daima missed out on something that could have been truly special.

The Join Bugs were introduced as a part of a lone shop in the bowels of the Demon Realm, which Son Goku, the Supreme Kai, and their demonic allies encountered in their fight against Gomah. Throughout Dragon Ball Daima, the Z-Fighters would routinely scarf down the Medi Bugs, aka the insects that had similar properties to that of the Senzu Beans which are a series staple. Unfortunately, the Join Bugs were never used, despite the fact that they were explained and could have given the shonen franchise an entirely new way for heroes to fuse. What was also lost in never using the Join Bugs was the opportunity for Dragon Ball Daima to introduce new fusions, because let’s face it, the shonen’s fusions have been stale as of late.

[RELATED: Dragon Ball Daima Needs a New Fusion (And We Know Just The One)]

A Missed Fusion Opportunity

For the longest time, Goku and Vegeta have been the gold standard when it comes to Dragon Ball fusions and for the most part, it has seemed like the only fusion we’ve seen. While we will see Goten and Trunks perform the fusion dance to summon Gotenks to the scene, there have been little to no fusions when it comes to other Z-Fighter pairings. Since Piccolo was there with the other heroes in the Demon Realm, the opportunity for the Namekian to potentially fuse with the Saiyans in Daima feels like a missed opportunity.

Even seeing Glorio fusing with Goku would have made for an interesting scene, bucking the trend of the usual Vegito and/or Gogeta fusions. Ironically enough, the Join Bugs might have even created a new Goku/Vegeta fusion in which the two Saiyans don a new appearance and name as they did when they fused in the past. It’s one of the biggest misses for an anime series that was able to give fans far more than they bargained for.

Where Can You See Dragon Ball Fusions?

To start, Dragon Ball Heroes as a franchise was more than willing to create wild fusions that never made their way to the main canon. The arcade cabinet turned anime adaptation featured Gohan fusing with Trunks, Trunks fusing with Vegeta, and many more hitting the scene for the first time. With Dragon Ball set to potentially continue for decades, it is still possible that we could see fusions that buck the trend of what has come before.

Ironically enough, there is a Dragon Ball video game that was specifically made to focus on fusions. Dragon Ball Fusions was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016 and allowed players to effectively fuse any and every character from the shonen series. While a re-release for the game hasn’t been confirmed, we’re crossing our fingers that its many fusions will one day find their place back in the world.

Want to see which fusions could land in the Z-Fighters’ future? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the world of Dragon Ball and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.